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The Ila-Speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia
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Historical SummaryThere is occasionally found also a very exacting code of courtesy as between the sexes. Thus, in Africa, among the Ila, the whole male population may be held responsible for any disparagement of the women of the group:
Many of the rules of etiquette govern the intercourse between men and women. One of these rules is that it is a form of matushi [insult] for a man of one village to express his admiration for the women of another village, i.e., for a Kasenga man to say, "Babota bakaintu ba ku Bambwe!" ("How fine the Bambwe women are!"). Nor may women express admiration for the men of another community. It is called kushomausha, or kushomezha, and regarded as a very serious breach of decorum. As we were told, mbulowe bobo, malweza, ku babele kwamb’obo ("it’s like witchcraft, a terrible atrocious thing for them to talk like that"). If they hear of a man speaking in that way the women give him a rough time. "How are they fine?" they demand. "What have they got that we haven’t? You have slighted us by comparing us to our disparagement with our fellow women. You tuka us." And they make him wish he had never been born. He has to pay heavily to all the women of his village.
In cases like this—offenses against the sex—the women stand solidly as one against the men. It is not an affair of individuals; a member of one sex has blackguarded the other sex, and the whole of the males in the village are regarded as participating in the offense. It is woman against man. The women have a simple way of asserting the rights of the sex, at once simpler and more efficacious than the methods of some of their civilized sisters. They go on strike. They down tools, hoe and pestle, grinding stone and cooking pot; and the helpless men, faced with starvation, speedily surrender. The women refuse to be appeased until all the men of the village come and apologize for the one man’s fault, and bring gifts.2
2Smith, E.W.n/an/an/an/a, and A.M.Dalen/an/an/an/a, , 1: 376–377 (The Macmillan Company. By permission).
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Chicago: "The Ila-Speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia," The Ila-Speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. Thomas, William I. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937), Original Sources, accessed November 22, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=2KGDH87JCLVWEH9.
MLA: . "The Ila-Speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia." The Ila-Speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia, Vol. 1, in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, edited by Thomas, William I., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937, Original Sources. 22 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=2KGDH87JCLVWEH9.
Harvard: , 'The Ila-Speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia' in The Ila-Speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia. cited in 1937, Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. , McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Original Sources, retrieved 22 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=2KGDH87JCLVWEH9.
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